Blue Velvet

1986 Directed by David Lynch

It’s a strange world.

The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of criminals who have kidnapped her child.

Isabella Rossellini Kyle MacLachlan Dennis Hopper Laura Dern Hope Lange Dean Stockwell George Dickerson Priscilla Pointer Frances Bay Ken Stovitz Brad Dourif Jack Nance J. Michael Hunter Selden Smith Jack Harvey Angelo Badalamenti Fred Pickler Philip Markert Leonard Watkins Moses Gibson Jon Jon Snipes Jean-Pierre Viale Donald Moore A. Michelle Depland Michelle Sasser Katie Reid Sparky

Alternative Titles

Terciopelo azul, 藍絲絨, Blue Velvet – Verbotene Blicke, Terciopelo Azul, Velluto Blu, 블루 벨벳, Синий бархат

thriller crime mystery

120 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Karsten Runquist ★★★★★ 44

Embarrassingly my first time. A view of suburbia and sadomachochism I didn't think was capable of existing under the same roof. A weirdness that only works in the context of the normal, and also the other way around. What a normal movie.
Review by Todd Gaines ★★★★½ 87

College kid returns to his hometown after his dad is injured in a freak accident. Kid finds severed ear on the ground. Kid plays Scooby-Doo detective. Kid hides in a closet. Kid gets caught in the middle of a crazy kidnapping scheme. Kid falls in love. Kid has final boss battle with loco Dennis Hopper. Just another day in the sleepy town of Lumberton, right?
Imagine if you could show Blue Velvet to someone unfamiliar with any of the actors. Now, ask them two questions. When was the movie made, and what year does the story of Blue Velvet take place? To me, Blue Velvet looks ageless and timeless. The cinematography and the look of the actual film are flawless.…
Review by Karsten Runquist ★★★★★ 27

So many things I realized on a second watch. Love this movie! A lot! Wow!
(talking about it on the Karstcast)
Review by Adam Cook ★★★★½ 53

White picket fences, suburban subversion, sexual repression and violence - David Lynch’s recurring themes and obsessions emerge fully formed in this hyperreal nightmare of wholesome Americana and sadomasochism. The term ‘Lynchian’ immediately conjures up dreamy images of small town America distorted by dark forces and although Blue Velvet marked Lynch’s fourth directorial effort it is a film that best encapsulates his entire career as he continues to recycle and reexamine these nightmare fantasies.
Causing a stir upon its release in 1986, Blue Velvet captures a world of contradictions as Lynch contrasts the neat gardens and painted smile facade of suburban life with its dark underbelly of crime and sexual perversion. By the director’s later standards the film is far more…
Review by Evan DePasquale ★★★★½ 6

Laura Dern: *pours heart and soul out about a dream of her undying love for Kyle MacLachlan*
Kyle MacLachan: "yOu'Re A nEaT gIrL"
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 32

I basically crawled up from my "cinema cave" to write this. My body, mind, and soul is like half-cooled jello. I feel like I was assaulted and beaten in a nightmare, only to wake up into another nightmare that's even worse. Blue Velvet just gave me a cinegasm, an experience so thoroughly sensational, terrifying, ingenious, and astoundingly perfect that all I could do at the end was cry and collapse onto the floor.
David Lynch's film is both his finest masterpiece as well as the greatest film of the 1980s. It's that brilliant, mind-boggling, devastating, goofy, disturbing, hilarious, and saddening. Let's say that there was a giant semi-truck carrying every emotion in the world, and it just hit me. All…
Review by Colin the dude ★★★★★ 1

Plays like a Hitchcock film, if Hitchcock was possessed by a demonic incubus.
Review by josh lewis ★★★★★ 3

"i can't figure out if you're a detective or a pervert."
"let's fuck! i'll fuck anything that moves!"
"you put your disease in me."
another david lynch movie about normal people having a good time. no sick underbellies or dark impulses (to be afraid of and curious about) in sight.
Review by siobhan ★★★★★ 3

not me constantly thirsting over 80s/90s kyle maclachlan like it’s my job..... BUT HIS SILVER HOOP EARRING
Review by matt lynch ★★★★★ 2

"It seemed like that love would be the only thing that made any difference...and it did."
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 3

100
MKE Film Fest #5
"Are you the one that found the ear.....?
And then she emerges. Out of a simmering, endless night, one of mystery and strange occurances, Sandy is a figure of innocence; pink and bold, radiant and curious. She's another version of Jeffrey in many ways ("You're a neat girl." "So are you...I mean you're a neat guy."), but still tied to small-town perspective, unraveling clues and revelations long past their due date (particularly when Dorothy is taken back to her parents' household) and unconsciously clinging to the façade. It makes the basement house party scene fascinating in that Jeffrey yearns to regain the shining purity which Sandy beckons, yet he cannot turn back from what he's…
Review by Coolnilk ★★★★ 1

While the discomfortness factor as a whole is a bit much at times, Blue Velvet still makes for a notably engaging & suitably subversive mystery-thriller that is favorably straight to the point surprisingly enough, and properly builds upon its foreboding suspense & Lynch's signature surrealism quite well throughout.
The whole cast as well is absolutely exceptional needless to say, although it ultimately is Dennis Hopper who undeniably steals the entire show in this film as his memorable over-the-top antagonist is both amusing & chilling to watch here due to his specific character's general unpredictability. Definitely put on an elevated performance in this one out of them all for sure.

Recent reviews

Review by Roy Ombecq ★★★★

A young man (MacLachlan) discovers by finding an ear, an undercurrent of sadomasochism and violence in a tidy provincial town. Lynch sketches two worlds: on the one hand, the shaved lawns, friendly people. On the other hand, the underbelly of society, portrayed by a maniacal drug dealer (Hopper) who dishonours (Rosselini) in every possible way. A layered film, a waking dream that takes you to every corner of the human condition. Lynch at his best.
Review by bella ★★★★★

brb just imagining a universe where dale cooper wears an earring. oh wait this is it.
Review by Dumbass_filmbro ★★★★★

Well I’ll be damned. This was better than Fire walk with me😳

Didn’t see this coming
Review by Giudy ★★★★

My mom walking in in the most unsuitable moment
Review by Tui ★★★★½

Kyle Machlachlan is such a blessing for humanity
Review by Davidlunch ★★★★★

Here's the thing:
David Lynch Is a master on comstructings things that fit right were they belong.
Review by Jackson ★★★

Lynch excels at invoking dark primordial dread, but his own pretentiousness prevents him from doing anything profound with it.
Review by erika 🌿

isabella rossellini’s back surgery scar... the representation
Review by ethan gaskill ★★★★

Now halfway through Season 2 of Twin Peaks, I was really down with Lynch’s style more the second time around with this one. Watched the Criterion version (new flash sale pickup 🚨) with O’Neal
Review by VicVega74 ★★★★★

What delightful madness! It seems Quentin didn’t invent messed up things happening during innocent songs. It’s a strange world indeed
Review by keaton ★★★★★

masterpiece.

nothing else to add.
Review by markus ★★★★½

laura dern talking about robins :)